Well, as the title of this post suggests, I am back. I know, I know it has been quite some time since I have posted anything here, and it has been a lot longer since I have posted consistently but with EMS Today coming up this week, I decided to reopen the door to blogging and start writing again. For the last six months I have been focusing on a lot of aspects of both my personal and professional life. I have been teaching more, developing classes more, and just generally enjoying life outside of the blogging world. After writing for five and a half years, I guess that I just needed a break. I have spent the last couple of months writing for Dragons Speak, a blog about Drexel University’s basketball team in Philadelphia. As a present to my dad, a Drexel grad, I got us season tickets. Sports writing has been a good outlet, and has helped me break down some of the more serious setbacks that I have had with writer’s block over the last couple of months. I am sure that most of the other bloggers who are still out there and active will agree that writing is a labor of love. Unlike some, I don’t make any money from doing this. This website is completely self-funded and maintained. I write because I enjoy it, and I write because I am passionate about my chosen career. My main motivation for coming back and writing, however, is two-fold. Moving past my love for it and my field, I am not at all happy with the direction that the online community of bloggers has taken. While there are still the likes of Noonan, Grayson, and Schorr gracing this series of tubes that we call the internet with their thoughts and feelings on this field, there are others who have become more frequent contributors who leave me scratching my head. But enough of the negativity. Let’s get back to writing, right? Lately, EMS Compass has taken up a lot of my time, and with that coming to a close I plan on having more time to spend with a cup of coffee and...

I have been asked occasionally by friends why I don’t take more pictures and post them on Facebook.  Previously I never had much of an answer beyond “I just don’t” that was until a recent trip to Washington, DC when a far more practical reason became clear to me. With some time to kill my girlfriend and I took a walk through the heart of the Smithsonian and down to the monuments on its west end.  The Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool that lies between them has always been one of my favorite spots in DC, and it is a visit that I frequently try to make when in town.  As we walked past the reflecting pool I saw a number of people taking pictures however they were not standing around and snapping shots of what was going on around them. What we noticed was selfie after selfie after selfie being taken.  Everybody standing by the reflecting pool was trying to do their best to capture a shot of themselves and everything that was going on behind them.  Some crouched with arms out stretched, and others had their Selfie Sticks deployed to help them do the job.  What I realized though as I walked past person after person was that all of these people were experiencing life, and one of the greatest places in this country, with their back to it. I became much more aware of what was going on once we got up the steps to the Lincoln Memorial.  The view from there is incredible as you look back across the Reflecting Pool to the Washington Monument and then on to the Capitol Building at the far end of The Mall.  We were surrounded by people trying to get their picture with Honest Abe as they seemingly disregarded everything else that was around them. To sum it up, if anybody is ever wondering why they don’t see me taking or posting more pictures it is because I refuse to live life with my back to the world.  There is far too much going on right in front of me that I would rather experience with my own two eyes...